Masters of Media

Technologies have always appeared that have served to progressively make the world smaller — from ships, rail and air travel to electricity, the telegraph, telephone, etc. At the same time, they have made worlds larger, for individuals could explore areas new to them, regardless of whether in the realm of spatial, temporal or psychic experience.  The very fact that I’m…

According to the 2010 call for New Media MA applications, the Masters of Media blog has been nominated for a best education blog award and enjoys a broad, global readership. Masters of Media’s international prestige and academic acclaim undoubtedly point to an extensive Web presence. But how many mentions…

Let me get this straight. I don't have a pet. I never felt like growing pumkins. My cooking skills are below average. Does that make me socially "incompatible" with the millions of people playing Pet Society, Farmville, Cafe World and other social games?

Last month Reuters and LA Times publicized articles about the Cuban Internet use. Both articles were skeptical about the use of Internet in Cuba. Less than 14.2% of the Cubans make use of the Internet, and most of the use was for government purposes only. They also both make a comparison with other Latin American countries where the…

According to the 2010 call for New Media MA applications, the Masters of Media blog has been nominated for a best education blog award and enjoys a broad, global readership. Masters of Media’s international prestige and academic acclaim undoubtedly point to an extensive Web presence. But how many mentions…

Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks

The back cover of this weeks Grazia magazine shows a new add campaign of United Colors of Benetton. Readers are being encouraged to interact with Benetton by signing in for the casting for the new campaign. Costumers can become new models for the print advertisement of Benneton. The company choose to apply augmented reality to this competition.…

Everybody is talking about blogs, a lot of people even have their own blog, but the scientific debate about blogging is still in the beginning. This article tries to answer the questions: what are the educational benefits and possibilities of blogging; how can you support learning/teaching using blogs? Therefore I was searching for recent articles and found an interesting one…

Would you like to watch the latest episodes of Dexter, Entourage or NCIS  on your computer without having to search all sorts of obscure websites? Without the piracy-issue pricking your conscience? If it’s up to Youtube in the near future we all would leave the comfort of our televisionset in the livingroom and

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Stories have become complex in the digital age. Was it first good enough to have one story, now we are accustomed to multiple story lines across different media spheres. The scholar Henry Jenkins calls this transmedia storytelling. He describes it as followed: ‘A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution…

This summer I was sitting with a friend on a nice terrace in the city center of L’viv, Urkraine (I marked it on Google Maps, for your interest). The terrace was overlooking the city’s promenade where the local folk - i.e. the well-known Ukrainian girls – were gallivanting, hoping to catch an eye, or for others to get…

Review: Karin Spaink, Wie is U?

Ever had a Déjà vu, the feeling that you have experienced something before? It’s a strange feeling. You can’t exactly explain what it is and where it comes from, but it’s there. You know you’ve been somewhere before or heard something before. Mostly the experience lasts only a moment and then it’s gone.…

Having just started my New Media Master, I find myself speculating about what digital learning may look like in a couple of years. Even though I believe that face-to-face interaction will remain essential to education, I do see high additional potential in digital learning environments, or also electronic or virtual learning environment. And we can…

In a cycling country such as The Netherlands, a man’s bike is mostly a mode of transport than a fashion. But only because a bike too trendy is sure to be stolen. The Dutch are definitely passionate about their ride. In fact, there blogs and more blogs about…

Since the rise of use of new media, marketing departments seem to be stressed out because they don’t know how to handle this new medium. Should they invest? How, where and how can they measure the effects? Companies don’t want to stay behind, but also don’t know what to do. Is twitter the new way to go?

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This week Craigslist officially shut down its adult service section of the site in the United States. This follows a short period of censorship. While some are celebrating the decision, blogger Dannah Boyd raises some interesting points on The Huffington Post titled: How Censoring Craigslist Helps Pimps, Child Traffickers and Other Abusive Scumbags. Meanwhile, Craigslist only…

Despite years of theorization, a concise definition of what constitutes a medium remains elusive. A practice-based case study in generative typesetting leads to an analytics of becoming that highlights the external dynamics of media. Rather than the referentially recursive McLuhan formalism of "studying media as media" (a position which leads to theories that are inapplicable to the dynamics of the computer metamedium), Gilbert Simondon's theory of individuation provides a starting point for raising questions about the on-going processes that shape--and are shaped by--media. The practice-based case study leads to a conclusion that positions FLoSS (Free/Libre/open Source Software) as a potent site of agency that encodes radical potential for collective becoming.

Alternative post title: The Good, the Bad & the Downright Crazy.Mail-by-rocket, cat pianos, astrolabes, Inca quipu knots and musical fingers. Seems like a fairly random collection of things, doesn’t it? They do have one thing in common, though. They’re all dead forms of media; either because they’re downright silly or impractical - like the mail-by-rocket and cat pianos - or they’ve outlived their time and usefulness - like the astrolabe and the quipu knots. All these objects and more can be found in a wonderful little book called A Collection of Many Problems.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue. It is a direct outcome of the World Summit on the Internet Society (WSIS). Its purpose is to facilitate open and inclusive dialogue about the World Wide Web, between government officials, representatives of the private sector, members of civil society,  academics and agents of the…